Expressions

Machines make people idle...

What is a machine? It is a thing that can do work or a process of work, which we do manually. It generally eases our toil.

However, today, machines have created certain problems because we do not know to limit their use. Man has now become so dependent on machines to carry out all kinds of work. This has created health problems as well as a severe energy crisis because power is required to operate these numerous machines.

It is true that machines are very helpful to people. But today even simple toys, an essential play item for children have also become more like machines. Machines can become very dangerous and not safe if not properly used. If people learn to depend too much on them, they’ll become idle.

Past generations or our ancestors were very healthy, because they didn’t use complex machinery to carry out all their work. They did most things manually. They used some technology, but not machines for everything.

If we continue to depend on machines like this, we will end up becoming slaves of machines.

S. Chamod Madushan, Grade 11, Bothale K.V.
 

Gratitude, a great quality

Gratitude is a very good quality that has to be cultivated. The Buddha did ‘Animisa Lochana Pujain - gratitude to the bo tree that provided shelter during His enlightenment. The Buddha spent a week looking at the bo tree without blinking His eyes, in gratitude.

From this alone, we can realise how important gratitude is. It is a fact that we can’t live isolated lives in society. We have to help each other. Many people help us in many ways.

Our parents for instance feed and clothe us and also teach us how to live in society. Teachers help us by imparting knowledge and educating us about the world to help us either to get jobs or enter the universities.

There are other elders who help us in many ways. Friends help us by sharing both our sorrows and joy. We have to show our gratitude to all of them. Then without the environment we can’t live. It provides us water, food and oxygen to live.

So now you know how all of us need help to survive.We can’t forget people who help us. We have to respect and obey our parents, teachers and elders. That is the best way to show our gratitude to them.

We also have to help friends when they fall into trouble and when they need assistance in gratitude for what they do for us. We should also protect, and not destroy and pollute the environment in gratitude for everything it gives us.

Let’s learn to show gratitude for everything throughout our lives.

Bhagyani Randunuge, Grade 9E,Girls’ High School, Kandy.
 

We cannot go to school twice

School life comes only once in a lifetime. So, we have to get the maximum use from this special gift we’ve got - school.

At school we learn many things and do many things. School could be easily defined as “A place where you master the skills needed to face life in society”. It’s a place to find success, a place to study, a place to play, a place to learn everything, kindness, friendship, respect, discipline, love and living in harmony with each other. School is almost everything.

Here’s what exactly we get from school. We get our basic education from school. When we work with others, we learn to respect each other. We learn the value of friendship and team work and especially we learn to live with people of different races, different faiths and different personalities. We also get a good opportunity to enhance our talents, either in sports, music dancing or studies.

It’s at school, we learn the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and living in peace. We learn good habits and discipline. One might come to school as an unpleasant child who does the most hideous things, but with some discipline and sense put into his/her head, leave school with a very different attitude.

So you see, school can be a great influence on you, it can change your entire life.

As school gives us many things, shouldn’t we give something to our school in return? We can reward our school for giving so much by working hard and achieving success. We must also be good and fruitful people to society.

Talking about what we gain from school, who actually gives us all this? Teachers of course, with the support of our parents. Teachers are like our second parents. They teach what is right and wrong. How can we reward our teachers for what they give us? By listening to them and working hard. All that a teacher wants is a good and obedient student.

School life is so precious, we must use every minute of this special period of thirteen years in a useful manner. We must make the maximum use of school!

Jabitha Abraham, Grade 7D,Bishop’s College, Colombo.
 

A day in the life of a farmer

Have you ever seen a farmer at work or ever wondered how the rice that you eat reaches you?

The farmer is an industrious man. It is because of his sweat and hard labour that we have our staple food - rice.

A farmer usually wakes up very early in the morning to go to the field. He drinks a cup of plain tea (kahata) with a little sugar on his palm or a piece of jaggery, then wears his loin cloth or a pair of shorts, takes the mammoty and goes to plough the field.

He sets out to do this when most of us are cuddled in our beds, fast asleep. He is out in the field, hard at work with the cold wind playing on his body. Knee deep in the mud, he is busy turning the hard earth into soft soil to sow the paddy seeds.

After toiling for hours, he takes a break and goes to a nearby boutique to have a bun, plantain and a cup of tea. Then he’s back in the field, hard at work in the scorching Sun. It is well past noon when he eats his mid-day meal, lunch, usually brought by his wife or someone from home, seated under a shady tree.

Sometimes he has a chew of betel after lunch (if he is in the habit of chewing it), and relaxes for a while. He works hard until sunset just getting the field ready. It is not easy to prepare a field for cultivation, but the farmer has to toil hard and do it because it’s his livelihood.

After a hard day’s work, he has a wash in a nearby stream and heads back home to his family.

We need to hail the farmer for all the hard work he puts in to bring rice to our table.

Fathima A. Azhar, Grade 8 B, Thihariya Islamic International School.
 

The deadly Tyrannosaurus

The Tyrannosaurus is a carnivorous dinosaur which lived millions of years ago. It is not only one of the famous dinosaurs, but also one about which a great deal is known. Several discoveries of fossilised bones, teeth, whole skeletons and other remains have been made over the years. Tyrannosaurus fossils have been found at many sites in North America, Canada and Colorado.

Tyrannosaurus lived at the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs, about 68-65 million years ago. Its full name is Tyrannosaurus rex or T-rex, which means the King tyrant lizard. It had a head of about 1.2 metres long and more than 50 dagger-like teeth, longer than 15 centimetres.

The arms and the hands of the T-rex were so small that they could not pass food to its mouth. It is believed that the Tyrannosaurus may have been an active hunter, pounding along at great speeds after its fleeing prey.

Tyrannosaurus’s massive powerful hind legs were used to catch its prey. As it hunted or walked, its thick tail balanced it horizontally.It had walked with the body held low.

It was known to be the biggest meat-eating dinosaur, and the biggest meat eating animal ever to walk on Earth until 1990s. But, its record was broken by Giganotosaurus following research.

Dilan Trowell, Form 4 Science, Leeds International School, Panadura.
 

Celebrating the New Year

The Sinhala and Hindu New Year is our national festival. Everyone celebrates this festival in a grand scale. This festival falls in the month of April of every year.Our relations get together to celebrate the New Year with great joy.My mother prepares kavum, kokis and milk rice for us to eat on this day.

Jaliya Ranthilaka, Grade 5B,Thurstan College, Colombo 3.
 

The new lesson

One day in bed,
I planned my next day,
To walk in the sun,
And have a great day.

But when I woke up,
Terror filled my heart,
For my garden was wet,
With battering rain!

It was brown as chocolate,
And dark as coffee,
But I didn’t like it,
As it kept me indoors.

I was freezing with cold,
In this damp background,
I stared in horror,
Till my friends came over.

They forced me outside,
And showed me the beauty,
Of leaves so small,
Coming alive.

How trees got new life,
With each drop of water,
And how bright and green,
They shone with the rain.

From that day on,
I enjoyed each day,
As I learnt a new lesson,
On that rainy day.

Arthi Amunugama, Bishop’s College, Colombo.
 

A journey to dreamland

Once I visited dreamland,
It was actually a sweetsland,
It was called Candyland,
Hush! behold my wonderland.

I glanced at a river flowing upwards,
Unknowingly, I clapped to wonder birds,
It was actually a chocolate river,
Full of very different flavours.

I saw sweets hanging all over trees,
They were all rustling in the breeze,
Anyway, I stuttered along,
And yes, of course I was alone.

Suddenly, I heard an unusual sound,
It was my clock almost round,
I got up with a sulky yawn,
Oh! no it was eight in the morn.

Menaka Shirmali, Grade 11F,St. Peter’s College, Negombo.